Chiefs of Police Association: College campuses should have the right to set gun policies

By Sam Levin Wed., Nov. 21 2012 at 7:01 AM

"Just like anyone has a perceived right to carry weapons, businesses have a right to protect the entity as a whole," Jackson says, adding that it's only logical that college campuses, like any private entity, should have a right to ban guns if they choose to do so.

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Anschutz Medical Campus

"The Chiefs of Police are very concerned about what just happened," he says. "The person who accidentally fired off a gun in an office...how it happened may or may not matter. The fact that it did happen...means someone could've been hurt or killed."

At the end of the day, he says, he personally feels more confident in trained officers at police departments rather than individuals outside of law enforcement agencies who are permitted to carry guns. "I'm not a big fan of the overall mandates. Each college campus might be different," he explains. "But I'm going to say that I trust the police departments to partner with the campus police departments.... They are very well-trained people...and I trust those entities to handle problems.... I'm not as trusting of individuals."

At this point, the state Supreme Court has made its ruling and university officials say they will continue to follow the law and allow those with permits to bring guns onto campus. It's possible that proposed legislation could emerge to reconsider campus bans or give universities the right to regulate guns more strictly if they choose -- and the Chiefs of Police group would likely support measures of that nature.

In recent months, there has been much debate over access to guns in Colorado, given Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes purchased powerful weapons and fired shots that killed twelve and injured dozens more in July. In fact, the accidental discharge this month -- the first firing of its kind of a permit-holder on a Colorado campus -- took place at the Anschutz Medical Campus, where Holmes was studying.

In a statement posted on the Students for Concealed Carry website, spokesman David Burnett says, "It's unfortunate that some groups are rushing to premature judgment and exploiting this unfortunate situation for political gain," adding, "No one believes in punishing all for the sins of the few. The reality is that over 200 campuses in six states allow campus carry without incident. Some of them have done so for years."

Ultimately, Jackson says, law enforcement officials are going to do whatever they can to prevent crime and shootings: "We have to be right 100 percent of the time. [Shooters] only have to be right once," he notes. "We're not ones to say that more guns always makes it more safe."

Follow Sam Levin on Twitter at @SamTLevin. E-mail the author at Sam.Levin@Westword.com.

Tags:

Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, gun control, gun rights, James Holmes, John Jackson, permits, Students for Concealed Carry, University of Colorado

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typeatme

Yea, great idea---EXCEPT THAT'S NOT THE LAW....

Since you delight in exercising your power to enforce THE LAW...

then OBEY THE LAW.....

If I have a permit--means I'm able to carry a gun where I need to do so, In my opinion.

LIKE YOU POLICEMAN!...we have as many rights as your Righteous selves.

DonkeyHotay topcommenter

1 Like

What part of "shall NOT be infringed" do these Fascists not comprehend?

wtfk

1 Like

Then they shouldn't be public institutions, funded by gun owners. If you want to keep guns off campus, have a private school. This is the problem with "public" properties and institutions. They end up creating wedge issues about rights.

11Bravo

I've followed the gun control debate in whatever form it may take, be it concealed carry laws, so-called assault weapon bans, calls for the repeal of the second amendment. While I am ever vigilant of those who would take our rights away, or at least try to stand in the way of getting the rights we've lost over the years back, I am beginning to conclude the the anti-gun movement is largely irrelevant. Just a small group of very loud people ever so slowly getting smaller, and smaller and smaller.

It's not hard to see that people in general are starting to realize that the disarmament of good people does nothing to reduce or prevent crime. You see it in the articles following a crazy guy shooting up a bunch of unarmed people.

"People are dead, it's time to talk about gun control again! We have to ban the gun the crazy man used, or we have to make it arbitrarily harder to buy some component he used. But we won't because everyone is scared of the big bad NRA!"

The NRA is such a big entity because it's supported by the millions of people it represents. Not instituting ridiculous gun control policies based on a knee-jerk reaction to an isolated incident isn't a right-wing conspiracy, it's the will of an overwhelming majority of people who have witnessed decades of gun control, with no positive effects on crime.

Then you have concealed carry. Sure, this lady, for whatever reason, unsafely handled her firearm and people got hurt. She has almost definitely lost her handgun license and has lost her job for it. I don't have the statistics on the number of Police officers who have had firearms mishaps vs. permitted citizens, but I'm willing to bet that the accident rate would be at the very best comparable, if not higher on the police side of the house. I can certainly find plenty of youtube videos of "highly trained" police officers handling their guns like short bus children. But that's neither here nor there.

Every time concealed carry law is expanded, we hear words like "Wild west" and "blood in the streets". We hear that arguments over parking spaces will suddenly turn into deadly affairs. The law goes into effect, and as always, nothing happens. This is going to happen over and over again, and the more it happens the easier it's going to get, until there's concealed carry everywhere, and then we can all just stop worrying about it. Wearing a gun, to me, is along the same lines as using the seatbelt in my car, and putting a fire extinguisher in my kitchen.

The anti-gunners are resistant to progress on guns rights because of their crippling fear. The gun lobby has been doing the right thing: Cram it down their throats, and eventually all the people they've been duping with their false statistics and wild flights of fancy will leave anti-gun camp when they see that, in fact, there is no blood on the streets. This CU staffer was a set back to the cause, but as time goes on, it will be shown to be the isolated incident that it was. Gun rights are the will of the people. Not one step backward.